What's in a name?
For Erin McKelvey, changing her name was the key to success.

Having just
graduated from college, McKelvey was eager to join the tech industry,
but something was standing in her way: her gender. Erin applied to
countless jobs, but her resume got her no callbacks.

Then a friend
provided her with a helpful tip: change her name to something more
masculine. This friend, named Alexandra, couldn't find a job until
she changed her name on her resume to a gender neutral sounding,
“Alex.” Suddenly Alex was being called in for interviews left and
right.

Erin McKelvey took
her advice and changed the name on her resume to “Mack.”
Suddenly, with the more masculine name Mack McKelvey, she went from
getting a 0% response rate to a 70% response rate from prospective
employers. She quickly got a job as a contractor for AT&T, and is
now the CEO of SalientMG.

And unfortunately
for us, the practice of “name bias” is not confined to the 1990s,
and it doesn't only effect white women. The Financial Times recently
reported a story on a woman named Kayo Anosike. Kayo couldn't get a
job until she changed her name on her resume to “Kayla Benjamin.”
With a more white-sounding name she was suddenly being considered for
jobs that were not open to people with names that sound “ethnic.”

Kayla was no more qualified than Kayo, but by assuming a whiter sounding name, suddenly she could get her foot in the door. She knew it was a risk worth taking, saying, "All my friends said to me that if I got to the interview stage, [employers] would see I was the right person."

Our society has come a long way since the days of Pogs and Super Soakers, but name bias is still thriving and strong. Fortunately these ladies could have the careers they desired despite their names and gender, but for women and people of color, the uphill battle continues.

Thanks for raising awareness on this important issue. Have a great weekend!— Deb Silverberg (@CommunityDeb) June 10, 2016